Coming up from the junior varsity squad expecting to help are 5-7 sophomore forward Caroline Victor and 5-7 junior guard Kalise Garner.

The big loss to graduation is all-district and all-conference forward Andrea Zalis, who led the squad in scoring (15.3) and rebounding (8.0) last season.

"I believe we're over the conditioning hump and are now fine-tuning things," said RHS head coach Bryce Swafford.

Swafford says RHS has to play to its strengths.

"Everybody knows we're a senior-loaded group," he said. "We've got to get up and down the floor quickly. I think speed will be to our advantage; transitioning from offense to defense. We've got to rely on our quickness and speed, get some easy transition baskets and create a lot of havoc and panic.

"Shannon McCaul has done a really nice job so far. She's really taking the role of point guard. And Gabe Otte has the potential to be a big-time scorer for us. Also, Collier, and McCaul will be chipping in (scoring). Neal will be contributing more with her height and DeShurley is doing some good things. And we're expecting some good things from Victor, Garner and Maxwell. They showed a lot of promise this summer."

With a lack of overall size, the coach says the Lady Bulldogs must do the little things inside.

"When a shot goes up we've got to really crash the boards and make people block us out," Swafford said. "And we need someone to step into the role to get garbage points around the basket. We're losing 15-to-18 points a game. We've got to distribute that out between everybody."

This is the first season that Missouri prep basketball teams can hold preseason jamborees, and the Rolla Jamboree will be held Friday at the RHS gym, starting at 4:30 p.m.

In addition to the Rolla boys' and girls' basketball squads, the Crocker and Cuba teams will also be participating.

The jamboree sessions are basically practice scrimmages. Each team will play two sessions of three, 6-minute quarters versus the other two schools. Personal fouls will not be tallied and coaches may be on the court to provide instruction to players during play.